


Desperate Times, More Desperate Measures

by mediocrityatbest



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Don't Worry About It, Gen, It's a superhero AU, Lamp - Freeform, M/M, This is familial LAMP, but it's only mentioned y'all, calm, remile - Freeform, the usual, there is a little fighting, with parent Remile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-28 18:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19400059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mediocrityatbest/pseuds/mediocrityatbest
Summary: When their powers manifested, Virgil’s three older brothers wanted to be just like their Dads and fight crime. Virgil had never been so inclined. Now, however, they never come to family dinners because they’re always busy. Virgil takes matters, and maybe the law, into his own hands.





	Desperate Times, More Desperate Measures

As Virgil sat at the dinner table with his Dads, both looking distinctly disappointed that only one of their four sons had shown up, he knew something needed to change. It had been months since all three of Virgil’s older brothers had come to their biweekly family dinners at the same time. It wasn’t fair on Virgil, but more importantly, it wasn’t fair on their parents. Remy and Emile worked hard to provide for their sons and make sure they’d be able to do anything they wanted, including being superheroes. Virgil wouldn’t stand for this kind of disrespect for his parents, not even from his brothers.

Virgil promised himself they’d be at the next family dinner, one way or another.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Logic! Duck!” Patton shouted needlessly. He knew his twin was more than capable of dodging the incoming car, but he was the oldest. He felt responsible for his brothers whether they wanted him to or not, whether they needed him to or not.

Logan was by Patton’s side a second later, not even winded by the speed he could move.

“Have you seen Creativity?”

“Yeah. He was trying to have a dance-off with Origami Spindler.” Patton did a few dance moves himself, dodging out the path of another shadow. Two villains had appeared in the city today, and one of them, Origami Spindler, was throwing cars around using the giant origami cranes he’d made out of giant sheets of metal. The other villain, however, had never been seen before. As far as Logan could see, this was their literal debut. They seemed to be able to manipulate shadows, but they weren’t doing so very well. The shadows were more annoyance than anything else, though Logan knew that they _could_ be a legitimate threat if the wielder had more practice.

Logan thought his youngest brother would love the design on the outfit, as he often complained of the ridiculously complicated and often times hindering outfits the supers wore. This new villain was dressed in black, with purple swirls climbing up their arms. They wore a hood dragged low over their face, but the amount of shadow obscuring them wasn’t normal. They were tall, but didn’t appear particularly muscled. Logan couldn’t be sure, as he had yet to engage this villain in hand-to-hand combat, but a guess was better than nothing.

“What do you think of the new villain?” Patton asked. His first move upon seeing what power they possessed was to darken the sky as much as possible so there wouldn’t be shadows on the ground for the new villain to employ. It had weakened them, but they were still very much able to fight.

“They seem rather. . .untested,” Logan muttered. Patton grabbed his arm and pulled them both into the air with a mini-tornado, evading yet another shadow. “They could be doing much more damage to us and everything else than they are. I do not believe their control over the shadows is too great.”

“I don’t know, Logic.” Patton giggled as he said the superhero name, like he always did. “Maybe they just don’t want to hurt us. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve fought a conscientious villain.” Patton carefully lowered them both back to the ground. Roman jogged up to them, sketchbook in one hand, sword in the other.

“Morality. Logic.” He nodded at both of them before turning. “Who’s the newbie?”

“I am unaware, though I doubt they’ve had much training.”

“No, they’ve definitely had training,” Roman said, shaking his head. “When I was fighting what’s-his-face down there, I won by the way, the shadows attacked him more than me. And even when they did attack me, it was not with nearly so much vigor or intent.” Roman tilted his head. “It’s almost like they didn’t want to hurt me. I _am_ amazing, though. Perhaps they just couldn’t bear to hurt such a beautiful face.” Roman struck a dramatic pose and was immediately knocked off his feet by a shadow.

“Creativity!” Patton yelled, diving after him. He helped Roman up, frantically checking to make sure he was okay.

  
“I’m fine, Patton.” Roman brushed him off, scowl twisting his features. “Just annoyed.” He flipped open his sketchbook and began to draw.

“ **Wait!** ” called the new villain. Their voice was distorted and strange, and it sent a shock of fear through Roman, who paused almost without meaning to. Patton shook it off first and moved in front.

“What do you want?” Patton called back, voice carried by his wind.

“ **Come closer and we can talk!** ” A path, three people wide, opened up in the shadows surrounding the villain, and slowly, Patton took a step forward.

“Stop.” Logan’s hand landed on Patton’s shoulder. “Together. We do not have sufficient information to approach separately, when we are weaker.” Patton nodded and, side by side, the brothers advanced.

“Who are you?” Roman called. Logan resisted the urge to smack him.

The villain laughed. “ **You want me to reveal my civilian identity just like that, Princey? No, but good try.** ” Their eyes flitted to Logan and then Patton. “ **Morality, Logic, and Creativity. You know, I thought it would take a lot longer for me to get all three of you at the same time.** ”

“You do not have us,” Logan said, but mouth was tight. Only people who had known him his whole life would be able to tell he wasn’t as confident in those words as he pretended to be. Patton also realized that they had walked right into a trap. The shadows could lunge for them at any time, and Logan was the only one who stood any chance of getting away.

“It’s a trap,” Patton muttered quietly.

“ **How right you are.** ” The villain laughed again. “ **You can call me** **_Anxiety_ ** **.** ” There was an almost palpable wave of fear that came off them as they said their name, but it dissipated quickly. “ **But don’t worry, Morality. I have no intention of hurting or capturing you.** ”

“Not that you could. I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back. Both arms!” shouted Roman. This time, Logan did hit him. “Hey!”

“ **I invite you to try,** ” Anxiety said. “ **Some other time, though. After all, wouldn’t want you too embarrassed in our first encounter.** ” There was a pause, and Logan knew they wanted to say something but was waiting to be prompted. He hated the dramatics that came with the job.

“What else is there, Anxiety?” Logan sighed as he asked.

“ **I know Princey already asked, but maybe you want to know my identity?** ” Logan’s face went blank, the only indicator of his shock. “ **Of course, if you don’t want to, you don’t-** ”

“What’s the price?” Patton asked. “Cause I’d love to know who you are, kiddo, but not at the cost of another person.”

“ **Oh, there’s no price. You just have to be brave enough to walk on the shadows, right up to me, and I’ll show whichever one of you does it my face.** ”

“I’ll do it!” Roman shouted, striking another pose. A shadow shot out of the surrounding mass and knocked him on his ass again. “Hey!”

“ **Oops, sorry. It looks like they don’t like you.** ” Logan could see a smirk on the person’s face, and he knew this was just a game to them. He looked over at Patton, who was helping Roman up.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“Lo,” Patton murmured. Logan shook his head. He had the best chance of getting away if Anxiety went back on their word. It had to be him.

“ **Come on up then, Twinkle Toes.** ” Logan sighed again, exasperated even as he heard his younger brother laugh at him. Then, with one last glance at his brothers, Logan ascended the shadows.

They weren’t fully corporeal. It felt kind of like what walking on the ocean would feel like. The shadows even lapped over his feet like waves, and it was a struggle for Logan not to shiver at the feeling.

It was sudden when the shadows started to move, and Logan was nearly thrown off his feet. He heard Patton cry out and Logan wanted to look, to turn around and make sure that they were okay, that Anxiety hadn’t hurt them when Logan had left, but he knew if he moved at all he’d lose his balance. So Logan stayed still, and waited to get to Anxiety.

Logan was thrust into an area that was surrounded by shadows. He didn’t know how high up they were and he still couldn’t see his brothers. But Anxiety was there, and Logan needed to make sure this was worthwhile.

“Morality and Creativity. Have you hurt them?”

Anxiety snorted. “No. Why would I hurt them? That doesn’t even make sense.” There was no distortion left in their voice, and if Logan was insane he’d almost say it was-

“Virgil?” All the shadows dripped off his face and Logan felt the need to clean his glasses or maybe pinch himself, which he would think was utterly ridiculous, except this was infinitely more implausible than anything else Logan could think up.

“Yep, it’s me, Logan. I bet you’re real curious about what’s going on, aren’t you?” Logan felt his head nod a little. “Good. Be curious. Be confused.”

“Virgil, what’s going on?”

“It looks like I just beat all three of my brothers.”

“You technically haven’t beat us as we are still very capable of putting up a fight,” Logan responded automatically. Sometimes, the automated response of being a sibling overrode whatever else was going on.

“I could literally take all of you anywhere I wanted right now and none of you have a defense against it.”

“No, well-” Logan cut off his rambling. Now wasn’t the time to argue who won. “Why are you doing this, Virgil?”

“If you want to find out, come to dinner. All three of you, come to Dad and Papa’s house on Thursday. If all three of you come, all three of you get answers. If two or less of you come, none of you get answers.”

“What? Virgil, no. Tell me what’s going on,” Logan demanded in his Older Brother Voice.

“Dinner. Thursday. The regular time. Tell Pat and Ro who I am, tell them the conditions. Be there or be left in shadows.” Virgil paused. “Don’t tell Patton I made a pun.”

“I am definitely telling Patton. That is beside the point. Why are you doing this, Virge?”

“Dinner on Thursday. Bring them both or don’t bother showing up.” Then Virgil was gone, and so were the shadows and Logan was sitting on the ground, suddenly surrounded by Roman and Patton rather than his youngest brother’s power.

“Loga-Logic! Logic! Are you okay? What happened? Did he hurt-”

“Did they show you who they are? Do you know them”

“You disappeared into the shadows and then Ro and I couldn’t-”

“I’m going to kill them the next time I see them, I swear-”

Logan, dazed from the new knowledge, took a moment to get his bearings and shouted, “Guys! Stop!” The silence was deafening. “I’m fine. Obviously. I’m just. . .”

“Yeah, you definitely got hit in the head or something,” Roman said.

“Lo, what happened up there? You disappeared into the shadows and we tried to get to you but we were stuck. They even took Roman’s sketchbook.” Logan snorted at this information. Of course Virgil would take Roman’s sketchbook and knock him over every time he struck a ‘fucking annoying pose.’ It’s exactly what Logan would have done to any of them if their roles had been reversed.

“Hey! It’s not funny, Calculator Watch. Now I’m gonna have to buy a new one.” Roman lightly tapped Logan’s shoulder rather than his usual punch, which clued Logan in that they really were worried about him.

“No, you won’t have to buy a new one, Roman. We’re getting it back in a few days.”

“What? Why?” Roman exclaimed.

“Did you recognize them?” Patton whispered, eyes big.

“Anxiety is Virgil. And he-”

“Virgil! You mean little Virgil? Our brother, Virgil? Do you mean the emo nightmare himself? You can’t possibly be referring to Jack Smellington. Our-”

“Roman, please. Give Logan a second to tell us what’s going on,” Patton interjected. He shot a glance at Roman before nodding at Logan. “What else did he say, Lo?”

“He said that if we wanted to know why he was doing this, we had to come to dinner this Thursday at Dad and Papa’s house. He also said that if all of us don’t show up, then none of us are getting the answers.”

“I guess we’re going,” Patton said. “I’ve been meaning to get down there anyway. You know how busy this life can be.”

“I’m going to get my sketchbook and make Virgil regret ever having acquired powers,” Roman said decisively. Then he paused. “Uh, when _did_ Virgil get all those powers? Because last I checked, he could only induce a little fear.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

The following Thursday, on their regularly scheduled family dinner night, Remy and Emile were astounded when their three oldest sons came pouring through the front door an hour early. Astounded, and absolutely delighted. The superhero life was very strenuous, they knew from personal experience. Any time they could get away to spend together was cherished.

What they weren’t expecting was the tales of what _Virgil_ had been up to, from supervillaining to stealing Roman’s main defense. If Remy was being honest, he didn’t think his youngest was quite capable of something quite like that. And Emile believed it one hundred percent. Virgil had told them all three of his brothers would be at the next family dinner, had promised in fact, that he’d do whatever necessary to get them there.

This was definitely pushing the limits of ‘necessary,’ though Emile did appreciate the effort. And success.

Virgil showed up five minutes before dinner started, as he always did. He looked surprised to see all his brothers there, and then more happy than his Dads had seen in weeks. He refused to elaborate on why he was supervillaining until after dinner, and then insisted he was too tired to talk about it that day.

Emile was trying his hardest not to explode with sheer glee as he watched his youngest wrangle promises of coming to the next dinner out of his brothers if they wanted to know his ‘dark, mysterious motivations’ for being a villain.

So, maybe Remy and Emile knew exactly why Virgil was being a villain - if that term could even be applied. He was a minor nuisance to the heroes if that, and he would protect them if anything started to go sideways - and maybe they kept their mouths shut about it. Patton, Logan, and Roman kept coming back and eventually stopped asking why Virgil was doing what he was doing. Whether they figured it out for themselves or just forgot, Remy doesn’t know and won’t ask. All he cares about is that all four of his boys are safe and secure and family dinners are getting a lot more fun again.


End file.
